Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Artificial intelligence is a risk to humanity says astrophysicist Stephen Hawking


Terrifying prospects ... Professor Stephen Hawking says self-learning artificial intellig
Terrifying prospects ... Professor Stephen Hawking says self-learning artificial intelligence poses a risk to the survival of humanity. Picture: AFP Photo / Justin Tallis Source: AFP

IT’S only logical: Human beings don’t deserve to exist. Which is why eminent astrophysicist Stephen Hawking wants our artificial intelligence research aborted.
The wheelchair-ridden thinker told the BBC: “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”
His comment came unexpectedly.
He had been asked to express his thoughts on a recent revamp of his computer-assisted speech system by Intel and machine-learning software company Swiftkey.
Hawking suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease). For decades he has been scrolling a cursor through the alphabet, laboriously building words through twitching his cheek.
Among other things, Hawking had been working with Intel to integrate new features such as predictive text with his existing suite of sensors to help the physically impaired physicist “speak” through a voice synthesiser.
Experiments with EEG sensors to “read” Hawking’s brainwaves failed to produce reliable results. His drooping eyes weren’t clear enough for gaze sensors.
Superseded model ... The fear of robotic “children” outgrowing their “parents” has featur
Superseded model ... The fear of robotic “children” outgrowing their “parents” has featured in movies and books from Blade Runner to I, Robot. Source: News Limited

And when it comes to predictive test, nothing more than a souped-up “learning” version of what your average smartphone user would expect, Hawking himself initially preferred his time-tested pick-and-choose method. But the electronic “shortcut” soon grew on him.
It’s not that he’s a technophobe: Hawking has embraced a wide range of technologies in his quest to communicate, research and extrapolate.
But the ability of the software to “learn” and “predict” his preference in words spooked the astrophysicist.
He says such primitive forms of artificial intelligence have proven very useful.
But he went on to say he feared the consequences of creating something smarter than us.
“It would take off on its own, and redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate,” he said.
“Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded.”
He’s not the only one to recently express such fears.
It’s been very much on the mind of technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, now chief executive of rocket-maker Space X.
He’s been even more evocative in his language.
“Summoning the demon” of self-learning artificial intelligence would be “potentially more dangerous than nukes”, he says.
Demon-haunted ... Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp, has warned of th
Demon-haunted ... Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp, has warned of the risk of artificial intelligence. Source: AFP Source: AFP

“I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I were to guess what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that ... With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon. In all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it’s like yeah he’s sure he can control the demon. Didn’t work out.”
It’s a threat which has caused the formation of ethics panels and UN investigations, university reviews and consumer protection reports.
All up, it seems the potential for such a threat is there: But it’s not a clear and present danger.
In the meantime, the much more immediate fear is that thinking machines will rapidly displace humans in the workforce: Sleepless, never tiring, performing repetitive but complex task in an indefatigable manner.


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